EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 



277 



TABLE I.— Concluded. 



Counties. 



Ogemaw.. . . 



Ottawa 



Presque Isle 

 Saginaw. . . . 

 St. Clair 



St. Joseph. . 



Sanilac 



Schoolcraft . 

 Tuscola . . . . 



Van Buren . 

 Washtenaw. 



Wayne 



Wexford . . . 



No. of 



seedings 

 reported. 



4 



20 



8 



5 



34 



10 



16 



1 



7 



24 

 18 

 20 

 40 



Percentage of reports graded as 



Good. 



50 



45 

 C2 

 20 

 44 



60 

 75 



57 



46 

 23 

 35 

 30 



Medium. 



25 

 20 

 13 

 20 

 27 



20 

 13 



43 



25 

 22 

 35 



47 



Poor. 



25 

 30 

 25 

 40 

 17 



20 



12 



100 



25 

 50 

 25 

 23 



Failure. 



20 

 12 



4 



5 

 5 



bulletin is based mainly upon these reports representing 701 different 

 seedings and a total acreage of approximately 4065 acres. Much supple- 

 mentary data has also been gathered by the College field agent, who 

 has visited several hundred alfalfa fields each season for the past three 

 years and made careful records of methods of seeding, condition of 

 crop, etc. Seventy-three of the eighty-three counties of the state are 

 represented in the reports. Table I gives the number of seedings reported 

 upon and the results with which the seedings have been made in the 

 different counties. The number of seedings reported must not be taken 

 as an indication of the number of fields seeded to alfalfa in the several 

 counties, as in most of the counties there are now a large number of 

 seedings upon which reports have never been made to the College. 



CAUSES OF FAILURE OR POOR RESULTS IN SEEDING ALFALFA. 



The reports from farmers were first carefully graded as to whether 

 the seedings produced good, medium or poor results or failure. Answers 

 to several of the questions were studied in making these grades. In 

 some cases it was difficult to determine the grade but it is thought that 

 on the whole the grades represent fairly well the true conditions. So 

 far as possible the grading of the reports of 1911 seedings (in regard to 

 which there was most doubt) have been checked up by the 1912 reports. 

 The reports that were graded poor or failure were then carefully studied 

 as to the most conspicuous causes of these conditions, Table II giving 

 the results of this study. 



TABLE II.— PRINCIPAL CAUSES OF POOR RESULTS OR FAILURE IN SEEDING ALFALFA. 



Poor preparation of seed bed 



Lack of inoculation 



Winter killing 



Weeds 



Light, infertile soil 



Seeding with nurse crop 



Insufficient drainage 



34.4«7n 



30.6% 



12.4% 

 9.7% 

 5.9^ 

 4.3% 

 2.7% 



It will be noticed by the above table that the largest percentage of 



